Lib Dem Candidate Slams Council's "Green" Advertising Campaign

5.34.00pm UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 4th Feb 2008

Local Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate, Richard Burt has slammed Worcestershire County Council for taking part in an advertising campaign to promote food waste disposers for the home.

A series of half page adverts in newspapers across the county invite residents to claim cash back from the County Council for fitting food waste disposers to the kitchen sink, Claiming to cut down on the amount of messy and smelly food waste in the bin.

Richard Burt said the County Council was simply "passing the buck" for waste disposal from local councils to Severn Trent and encouraging people to flush away compostable waste.

"The County Council is promoting this as a green initiative, but food waste disposers are just another convenience gadget that use more water to flush waste away, more energy to grind it up and add around 30% to the sewage load of the property, increasing the amounts that have to be treated at sewage works and the risk of pollution to rivers.

"Instead of spending thousands of pounds on advertising cash back for fitting food waste disposers, the County Council should be doing more with its district council partners to encourage home composting of green waste and vegetable peelings," added Mr Burt.